About the Achievement Awards

In 2010, the INSA Board of Directors established the INSA Achievement Awards to recognize the accomplishments of young professionals (GS-13/O-3/E-6 or equivalent and below with the exception of the Joan A. Dempsey Mentorship Award) in intelligence and national security as well as the mentors who have inspired them. INSA strongly believes it is worthwhile to formally and publicly acknowledge early achievers; in many cases, the Achievement Awards represent the first formal recognition the recipients have received. Six awards, named after previous William Oliver Baker Award winners, are presented to acknowledge the importance of mentorship and inspire young professionals to strive for excellence in the intelligence, homeland security and national security communities.

Although missions and requirements differ in each of the individual categories, common areas of excellence include: leadership, potential for growth, impact on the profession, mission accomplishment, and emerging professional standing and influence. The seven current awards are listed below:

Joan A. Dempsey Mentorship Award

Open to all public, private and academic elements up to and including GS-15/O-6 and equivalent rank

Sidney D. Drell Academic Award

Graduate students and untenured professors

Richard J. Kerr Government Award

Civilian government employees up to/including GS-13 and equivalent rank

Edwin H. Land Industry Award

Contractor/non-government employees

William O. Studeman Military Award

Uniformed military up to/including O-3 and equivalent enlisted rank

John W. Warner Homeland Security Award

First responders and domestic government employees up to and including GS-13 and equivalent rank

Process and Selection Criteria:

In late spring or early summer of each year, INSA sends out a call for nominations to government, academia and industry membership. Individuals should be nominated by their organizations based on their early and significant contribution to intelligence and national security and/or encouraging and inspiring their colleagues to strive for excellence in these fields. Selection is based on overall performance during the previous twelve (12) months and is based on existing information. The following criteria are to be considered:

1. Leadership – performance that exemplifies the ability to work across organizational boundaries, understands national security and intelligence priorities, and meets the wide-ranging requirements of mission objectives.

2. Influence – the ability to influence others to accomplish the mission by providing purpose, direction and motivation.

3. Proficiency – the nominee is continually learning and is technically and tactically competent.

4. Values – the nominee is committed to the value of diversity, and encourages initiative, innovation, collaboration, resourcefulness and resilience.

5. Team-building – the nominee develops cross-functional and cross-organizational teams that anticipate requirements and exercises initiative within the director’s intent.

6. Personal – the nominee exhibits intangible aspect of leadership relating to people, skills, interpersonal communication skills, and the quality of the leadership climate; for example, the ability to understand human nature (empathy) and the ability to gain consensus among diverse groups.

Once the call for nominations has gone out, agencies and companies may submit up to three nominations from their organization (for the homeland security award, DHS may submit up to five nominations) by completing in full a nomination form, which will be made available for download upon the annual call for nominations. Up to five letters of support may be submitted for each candidate in addition to the nomination form (optional). Each year, all nomination packages must be submitted to achievement@insaonline.org.

Past Achievement Awards Recipients:

Past Achievement Awards recipients represent a broad range of agencies, organizations, academic institutions and geographic locations. Previous recipients have deployed to Kenya, Kazakhstan and the Middle East, and several served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those selected in past years include a 9/11 first responder, intelligence analysts tracking drug traffickers and known terrorists and industry consultants working in tandem with intelligence agencies to improve national threat assessment capabilities and provide technical support to war fighters in the field. Academic recipients have participated in research aimed at protecting maritime borders from narcotics traffickers, while past military recipients worked in support of intelligence agencies to coordinate and provide timely intelligence analysis to decision makers. In all these cases, INSA’s past Achievement Awards recipients represent the backbone of our current national security efforts and the future of our intelligence leadership.